23/11/2011

Two much-anticipated Belgian directors have films coming out this week. Preceded by a prestigious festival run (Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian), crowned with three awards at the Ghent Film Festival (Best Score, Best Actor Award for Issaka Sawadogo, Jo Röpke Prize for Best Young Flemish Director), and propelled by an impressive trailer, Nicolas Provost’s debut feature The Invader [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile] (pictured - see the news) tells of the failed encounter between two worlds: that of Amadou “Obama”, a modern slave, a combination of strength and audacity, and that of Agnès, a brilliant and luminous businesswoman.

While Amadou dreams of her being his saving angel, her betrayal plunges him into a hellish spiral of destruction. Provost lays claim to being, above all, a visual artist. Feelings and politics remain in the background, the theme of immigration is kept at a distance and The Invader becomes a psychological thriller, closely following its antihero who is forced to live as an outsider while he struggles for an ideal of love and happiness.

The film, produced by Versus Production, with backing from the CCA, VAF and Bruxellimage, is being released by O’Brother on seven screens across Belgium.

The other Belgian film in the line-up is in fact a Dutch film: Lena, produced by Isabelle Films, in collaboration with A Private View. It is the second feature by Christophe Van Rompaey, who is making a comeback after unexpected success with Moscow, Belgium [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2008.

Lena paints the portrait of a teenage girl who is looking for love as a way to accept her plumpness. Thanks to this quest, she learns to accept herself on her own. The film is being released by BFD in 12 theatres. Presented at Toronto, it is sold internationally by Bavaria Films.

Finally, another Dutch production is being released this week in Belgium, the first 3D film produced in the Netherlands! Nova Zembla, by Reinout Oerlemans (founder of the company Eyeworks, which produced it), is a historical adventure film which recounts the failed expedition of a Dutch flotilla that tried to reach Asia via the North Pole at the end of the sixteenth century. Distribution is being handled by Starway (part of private network VTM, which is distributing the hit of the moment, Code 37 [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

(Translated from French)